What is divination, and how does it relate to this tarot?

Before we answer that fully, we have to take a look at where we are and what we are, both in terms of our place in the physical universe, and moreover our metaphysical one. Yes, we are a biological machine, living on a relatively small planet in a relatively simple solar system. We sleep. We breathe. We eat. We reproduce. We age. All those things that cells in our bodies require us to do for continued existence here.

We are more than that though. Being human is a higher life event, capable of invention of thought far beyond the necessary biology to live here. Today complex understandings of mathematics, delivered via complex language, can be delivered to hundreds of millions of us simultaneously. It is a thing to marvel, but that technological overdrive in many ways enslaves us and diminishes the human event.

It is not just the inventive technological overlay though.We have invented for ourselves- or more correctly generations before us have invented for us- a whole series of societal and cultural overlays that further dampen our innate connections. In fact, even when divination is brought up it is usually through such an overlay; it is usually the gypsy staring into a crystal ball at the fairground, nerds with divining rods or the comical old lady reading the tea leaves. The enduring cultural image of the tarot for most people is probably Jane Seymour reading James Bond’s cards in Live and Let Die. Those are usually loosely imagined shorthand caricatures on a movie or television set.

Again, what is divination?

“Who are we really?
It doesn’t matter how many times one asks the question; The answer never really satisfies the desire or even curiosity to know. We live on the edge of truth in an area of shadows, even hideaways and unseen places where the lie we live treads a path before us into which we unknowingly or reluctantly go, leaving a trail of our forgotten self behind us”
From the writings of Virsel

In the simplest of terms, it is how we find out what is really going on beyond that which seems apparent. There are things about ourselves that are on the surface self evident, but there are many, deeper, unseen influences that have become much more difficult to quantify. These cultural and technological layers make accessing those things, which are inherent in all of us, challenging. In Virsel, we believe in the work to restore the inherent natural abilities and processes that have fallen into such disuse that anyone who demonstrates the merest hint of one of these processes becomes culturally entitled by it. “Oh, she’s a clairvoyant.” or “he’s an empath” are not uncommon examples.

The works of restoring these things that are an intrinsic part of the human event should be of importance to all. and we believe those works are helped with study of The Divinatory Tarot of Virsel. Each card is loaded with imagery. Their content, their colours, their numbers and their interplay with each other are all designed for the purposes of stimulating these natural divinations and other latent abilities.

How are tarot cards divinatory?

Well, to be honest, they’re not. Not directly anyway. Tarot cards have no power, beyond what we put upon them. They are simply ink on cardboard, often produced in large quantities for a mass market.

What they are though is triggers, clues and prompts to our own divinatory faculties. Concentrated familiarisation with the cards, through continued study and practice, have shown to be an effective way of honing and amplifying our inherent divinatory ways, sidestepping some of the signals imposed by the manufactured overlays so we can better decipher the unseen signals that we are in receipt of constantly.

Within this site we unlock all of the symbology and structures Orman put into the cards at their inception so users have a much fuller understanding of them all. We detail what each one could represent in relation to its location within a reading. For example, what difference to a card’s meaning is implied when it appears as a denominational card as opposed to an answering card or any of the other three states?

Starting from the basics of the shuffle, through simple beginners’ readings to more complex divinatory layouts, the site is an unequalled resource for the Tarot of Frownstrong and will chart its evolution to The Divinatory Tarot of Virsel.